


every bruise, every flower

by PrettyYoungKing



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Character Study, F/F, Mentioned Shadow Weaver | Light Spinner (She-Ra), Post-Season/Series 05 Finale, Spoilers, ish, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-05
Updated: 2020-06-05
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:56:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24558793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrettyYoungKing/pseuds/PrettyYoungKing
Summary: Still, she can’t bring herself to move any further past the doorway, can’t bring herself to even look at the glass dome which practically oozes with Shadow Weaver’s presence, a feeling swelling deep and uncomfortable in her chest
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 68





	every bruise, every flower

  
The moment Adora pulled her through the archway, trying to show her everything Bright Moon had to offer, she knew it was Shadow Weaver’s garden; her scent, her essence hung over her like a suffocating fog. _Hell_ , Catra thinks to herself, _even the flowers give it away, who else in their right mind would have_ skull _shaped flowers_. 

Still, she can’t bring herself to move any further past the doorway, can’t bring herself to even look at the glass dome which practically oozes with Shadow Weaver’s presence; a feeling swelling deep and uncomfortable in her chest that she ignores, just like she ignores Adora’s look of confusion, reluctantly pulling their hands apart. “I’m-” she pauses, trying to think of an excuse, “I’m really tired” she decides in the end, it wasn’t a lie after all.

She thinks she sees the beginning of understanding growing on Adora’s face, so she wipes it away with a flash of her fangs and a quip about “taking her to bed.” She’ll deal with these emotions tomorrow.

She ends up taking Perfuma’s offer of meditation after a week, the sensation of her fur standing on end and freezing up whenever she even gets near the garden finally taking its toll. They’re sitting, cross legged in front of the Heart-Blossom, Perfuma upright and humming softly while Catra sits slouched while she watches Adora fondly laughing and playing with the Plumerian children.

“Something on your mind?” Perfuma suddenly asks causing Catra to flinch in surprise, not noticing that Perfuma had stopped humming, “I apologize, I didn’t mean to startle you” she bites at her lip before continuing “if something is bothering you, I’m more than willing to listen.”

Catra thinks about it, about the garden, about Shadow Weaver and the crushing sensation in her chest. She sighs, tilting her head back until it thunked softly against the tree behind her; “Okay” she finally sighs;

“Really?” Perfuma sounds almost disbelieving, not that Catra blames her.

“Yeah, really,” so she tells her about the dumb garden and the stupid glass dome, the skull flowers and the creeping vines with jagged thorns. Her throat starts closing up with emotion as she talks and talks, anger flaring hot until there’s nothing but the soft embers of grief left in her.

“How,” she swallows thickly “how do you get rid of bad memories?” she asks, her voice quiet and her eyes start to feel damp at the corners. Perfuma hums softly to herself for a moment, deep in thought.

“I don’t think you really can,” she says, remorse clinging to every word and Catra wants to hiss, she doesn’t need _pity_. “But,” Catra feels her ears perk up “you can build new memories, _good_ memories”

“And then?” 

“Then you’ll only think about the good times,” Catra snorts and sweeps a hand through her short hair

“What if I don’t deserve good times?” she sounds bitter, even to her own ears, but Perfuma only leans forward and places her hand gently on Catra’s knee.

“You deserve good in your life Catra” she says simply, like it’s fact and it’s this that causes Catra to cry, softly whimpering as she flings her arms around the tall girl, tugging them both down to the ground with a soft _‘oomph’_ from Perfuma.

She composes herself after a moment, lifting herself with a “sorry” as she wipes at her nose; Perfuma only smiles in response and points at something, Catra follows with her eyes until they land on Adora, concern plastered all over her face.

She thinks about just waving her off, but the idea of making _good_ memories sticks in her head as she stands up, quickly thanking Perfuma and an idea forming quickly as she sprints across the clearing towards Adora who opens her arms; she laughs as she’s scooped up and they twirl a little with the momentum, “are you okay?” Adora asks, cautious, like she’s testing a boundary they haven’t crossed yet.

Catra grins and says “I’ve never been better” before pressing a quick kiss to her lips, and then “do you think you know where we can get some flowers?”

She spends the night detailing her plan to Adora while Adora nods and hums against the back of her neck, she points out that they would have to ask Glimmer, after all it _is_ her castle. They fall into a comfortable silence and Adora’s breathing begins to even out into a soft snore, Catra turns in her arms to admire her face, gently tracing her fingertips across her jawline; “I can’t wait to make good memories with you” she murmurs before she nuzzles deeper into Adora’s chest.

Getting Glimmer to okay the plan barely takes any effort, in fact, she seems almost excited and Catra supposes she’s not the only one here that wants to be rid of Shadow Weaver’s memory. She even teleports the tools in, dropping them on the soft grass of the garden with a dull _thud_ , she hooks her arm through Catra’s with a sigh, “strange to think this will change soon”

“You can still change your mind” Catra offers, “if you want to”

Glimmer shakes her head, “no” she replies softly “it needs to be done” she grins and claps a hand on Catra’s shoulder “well, have fun!” and she poofs away leaving Catra to face down her task alone.

She smiles to herself, stooping to pick up the shovel that lies at her feet; luckily they had Castaspella come and inspect the plants, just in case any of them were dangerous, so now she was free to tear up as many of these creepy flowers as her heart desired. Before long it was getting darker and chill was starting to settle in, the pile of mismatched and discarded flowers grew in the center, wilting away slowly now they were out of the ground.

She yelps at the hand that clamps on her shoulder, hissing when she stabs her hand on the thorny vines she was starting to tear away from the glass dome, Adora gasps behind her and spins her so she can fuss over it, “what the hell Adora? Some warning next time” but there’s no heat behind her words, in fact she even smiles as Adora pouts.

“I’m sorry” she says, and the sincerity of it makes Catra’s heart ache and then, when Adora places a kiss on her injured fingers, it skips a beat entirely. 

“Okay sap” she grouches playfully, pushing her face lightly, pulling her back in for a kiss as she begins to laugh “why’re you out here anyway?”

“Well,” she says while taking a step backward “I couldn’t let Perfuma’s apprentice starve out here, could I?” and then she’s running as Catra chokes on her own spit

“Perfuma’s _what?_ ” she shrieks, taking off after her, Adora’s giggles echoing down the hallways.

She sleeps well that night, wrapped around Adora, even as she dreams of bright shining flowers casting the shadows out of her mind.

She leaves without waking Adora, slowly untangling herself from her vice grip, pausing only to press a soft kiss to her cheek, she’s determined to get this finished as soon as she can.   
She finds herself going through the same motions, clearing her way until she’s inside the glass dome, staring down the plants that had obviously been cared for; she feels a flash of rage, Shadow Weaver had cared more for these _flowers_ than she had for _her_ , her claws flick out and before she can think to stop herself tears into the flowers, not stopping until petals scatter the floor like confetti.

She makes a noise of disgust at herself as she stops to catch her breath, _maybe_ she thinks to herself _maybe I shouldn’t have bothered_ , pinching the bridge of her nose she stares down at the trowel she’d dropped in her anger. _No_ she decides, _I won’t let her get the best of me, not now_ ; resheathing her claws she grabs the trowel and begins to erase what little was left of the garden.

The next step is one she’s most worried about and she feels the dread start to settle as she stares at an array of flowers, buds and seeds all ready and waiting to be planted; she doesn’t have to turn to sense Adora watching her from the doorway. “I don’t bite” she calls out, glancing over her shoulder with a smirk “not unless you want me too.” She snickers to herself when Adora flushes bright red, but still makes her way over to her, grumbling the entire way.

“Have you decided what you’re going to do yet?” she asks, hooking her arm through Catra’s

“Not yet” she says back, “I just want it to be perfect,” Adora sighs next to her,

“It doesn’t need to be perfect Catra” she says, cupping Catra’s face between her hands, “it just needs to be what _you_ want;” she presses a kiss to her forehead.

“What I want” Catra murmurs to herself as a smile begins to form “I think I can do that,” Adora pulls away,

“Good” she pauses, “would you like some help?” Catra considers the offer

“Yeah, I- that would be nice” she says, and she’s no longer surprised when she means it, her heart fluttering as Adora beams at her and grabs her hand, tugging her to the first of the flowers.

“Come on, show me where you want these!”

And later when they’re covered in dirt and sweat and _kisses_ , the sound of laughter breaking through the quiet dusk, she’ll think _I don’t want this to end._

(And later still, when the flowers have long bloomed, their scent sweet and their colours bright, Adora will take her pin and ask her to be hers in that dumb glass dome filled with sunflowers and roses; “you idiot” she says, tears running down her face, smile never dimming,

“Does that mean yes?” Adora asks, all nervous energy and hopeful eyes,

“Yes, of course dummy” and as Adora sweeps her up into a kiss that is soon broken by grins too wide, she thinks again _I don’t want this to end._ )

**Author's Note:**

> My first She-Ra fic done! Big thanks to the SPOP discord for pumping me up enough to write this, feel free to hit me up about She-Ra and fanfic on twitter @Criticallygay


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